PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction ($10,000): To an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues which has been published in 2013 or 2014.

Texas: The Great Theft by Carmen Boullosa
Translated from the Spanish by Samantha Schnee
(Deep Vellum Publishing)Amazon | Indie Bound

Self-Portrait in Green by Marie NDiaye
Translated from the French by Jordan Stump
(Two Lines Press)Amazon | Indie Bound
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Read Some Strange FantasiesGrab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~To Leave A Comment, Use The Link At The Top-Right of The Post :-)For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

“A survey of writers around the world by the PEN American Center has found that a significant majority said they were deeply concerned with government surveillance, with many reporting that they have avoided, or have considered avoiding, controversial topics in their work or in personal communications as a result.”

PEN surveyed “…fiction and nonfiction writers and related professionals, including translators and editors, in 50 countries.”

The executive director of the PEN American Center said, “Writers are the ones who experience encroachments on freedom of expression most acutely, or first….The idea that we are seeing some similar patterns in free countries to those we’ve traditionally associated with unfree countries is pretty distressing.”

“The survey found that mass surveillance by the United States government had damaged its reputation as a defender of free expression, with some 36 percent in other ‘free’ countries and 32 percent in ‘less free’ countries saying freedom of expression had less protection in the United States than in their nations.”

Naturally, the results of the survey were roundly criticized and painted as “overblown”…

Yet, writers may be serving as the canaries in the mine of surveillance activities…

The executive director of PEN also said:

“Just the fact that so many writers say they are deeply concerned and are actually changing their behavior is significant….Whether we consider it justified or not, it isn’t something that should be ignored.”

Perhaps writers’ fertile imaginations see the obvious attacks on their counterparts in totalitarian countries and imagine the “free” countries are watching them…

Perhaps most of the world’s governments are watching writers—history shows how dangerous writers can be…

What are your thoughts and feelings?

Are writers dangerous to governments?

Is that such a bad thing?

If you live in a relativity “free” country, do you think writers are under surveillance?

If you do think this is happening, do you think all writers respond the same?

Do you have any stories to share about writers who didn’t let surveillance shut them up?

Think there could be more subtle damage to a writer’s life, even if the surveillance hasn’t led to writers being arrested—pulling back on writing about certain topics—writing to please the masters?

PEN American Center says:“Through annotations including notes, essays, drawings, photographs, letters to the reader, and inserted memorabilia, each contributor has transformed a first edition of a classic work into a distinct new artifact for one lucky buyer.”

All around us, we see evidence of social disintegration—wars, famine, climate change. But look deeper, and you’ll see forces of integration at work in society, too. In fact, the... The post Is Integration Happening Faster Than We Think? appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

We human beings are gregarious creatures, which explains why most of us tend to live in communities instead of living isolated and alone. From a practical perspective, living in communities... The post Why Community Building and Justice Go Hand-in-Hand appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

In our society today there appears to be a close relationship between social status, identity and power. Certain individuals or groups possess more power than others simply by virtue of... The post How to Overcome Our Social Divides appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

Recent international interfaith gatherings highlight a growing awareness in the world. Many social actors are seeing in interreligious dialogue a new potential to channel the constructive powers of faith for... The post The Evolving Baha’i Perspective on Interfaith Dialogue appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

The field of endeavor known broadly as “organizational development” has emerged in the last 50 years, advancing methods of conflict resolution by means of systematic dialogue. The work of David... The post Why Humanity Needs a Space to Speak appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

Do you live in a stable country—one stable enough to sustain itself over the long term? Researchers and political scientists have now categorized the factors necessary to determine the stability... The post Why Don’t We Measure a Nation’s Unity? appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

In the late summer of 2016, I attended an opening for an exhibition in which I was the featured artist. As the crowd mulled about the cavernous space sipping... The post “Are You Angry?” What I Get Asked As a Black Man appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

Each of us has different experiences in life, different thoughts and understandings. Even when we look at the same objects, we don’t necessarily see them in the same way. Our... The post Why We All See Things Differently appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.

The Baha’i teachings link justice with love: “… the God of love is also a God of justice and each man must inevitably reap what he sows.” – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris... The post Where Do Love and Justice Unite? appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.